Page 40 - FCW, May/June 2018

IT TRANSFORMATION
A holistic
approach to cloud adoption
With careful planning, cloud technology can transform the way agencies do business
Tim Bock
Dell Public Alliance Manager, Virtustream
Alternatively, they must have the right tools in place to extend their on- premises implementation into that cloud infrastructure because agencies retain responsibility for the overall security paradigm even in the cloud.
The optimal environment
for transformation
Agency officials are often hesitant to
move to a cloud environment because
they are concerned that mission-critical applications will not perform as well as they do on premises. Evaluating performance
THE PUSH FOR IT transformation is allowing agencies to strengthen technology’s role as an enabler of the mission. Cloud-based technology is a critical component of that modernization because it can help agencies provide better, more responsive services.
To achieve those goals, agencies must take a holistic approach to determining whether they want to continue running legacy applications the way they do
now or if they wish to transform them
to take advantage of a more cloud-like infrastructure that would enable them to be much more mission-focused.
Likewise, transforming the data center involves modernizing the way backend systems support key mission functions. The flexibility of a cloud-based data center, for example, can often help agencies modernize their applications more quickly to better serve citizens and missions —
and contribute to the agency’s broader IT transformation.
Shifting the focus to functionality
As agencies move activities and resources to the cloud, they should shift their focus from infrastructure to applications and functionality. They can start by evaluating their application portfolios holistically so they understand the interdependencies and know what resources must move and when. Those insights will help agencies determine what type of cloud solution they need.
Also, agencies must understand how they consume applications and whether they want to change that. For example, if they are already using a commercial enterprise resource planning solution, they must
decide if they wish to migrate it to the cloud or replace it with a cloud-native solution.
Agencies must choose whether to build or buy applications — though sometimes they can augment commercial solutions. For example, the Air Force developed
a module that was integrated into a commercial application to help reduce the amount of fuel planes were burning on air refueling missions in the Middle East.
Moreover, as agencies plan to move activities to the cloud, they must ensure that on-premises security protocols
will be enforced by the cloud provider.
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